The company began a tamper-proof ledger based on blockchain technology to record donations made by its more than 400 million users of Alipay, the online payments and investment service. Donors will be able to track transaction histories and gain a clearer understanding of where their funds go and how they're used, Chief Technology Officer Cheng Li said. That makes it tougher to alter records, and may help restore some of the trust that's been squandered over the years.

Chinese philanthropy rose 10-fold to $15 billion in the decade through 2014, according to the Xinhua News Agency. But the sector's been plagued by scandals and mismanagement.

In one high-profile instance, the country's anti-corruption watchdog investigated irregularities in the parent of Project Hope, the South China Morning Post reported. The Red Cross Society of China came under scrutiny after a woman who claimed affiliation with the agency posted photos of her lavish lifestyle in 2011. The charity has since denied she held any staff positions.

That's where Ant, known formally as Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group, comes in, Cheng said. The project kicks off via a tie-up with the China Social Assistance Foundation, as a number of larger charities consider clambering aboard. "We hope to bring more transparency to charity and blockchain technology's decentralised nature fits that purpose well," Cheng said.